What is Servant Leadership?

I wish I understood. I'm wondering especially what it means to be a servant leader in one of these influential mega-churches. The difficulty being that large organizations need strong leaders so the question arises, "How can one be both a strong leader and a servant leader?" I suppose the best way to answer the question is to find a model of someone like that. Of course the difficulty is that, in general, those who rise to leadership at large organizations are generally people with great gifting and it is almost a certainty that people with great gifting also have great weaknesses (which I think God brings with the territory for purposes of humility).

No answer yet...

Matthew Henry: Those that shall be put under your charge, must be as sheep under the charge of the shepherd, who is to tend them and feed them, and be a servant to them, not as horses under the command of the driver, that works them and beats them, and gets his pennyworths out of them.

Naked and Exposed

Before God, according to Heb 4.13. All of us. There is no creature in all of creation that lives without God knowing all things about it/him/her. It is all the more frightening that the God to whom we are naked and exposed is also the God to whom we must all give account. It seems to me that, at this point, we have two options. We can go along our merry way and give no thought to the fact that we will one day give account to God; or, we can rest upon grace and say, "I am definitely going to give account to God one day, which makes me all the more grateful for grace!" Personally, I choose option 2.

He who is most fearful of God's wrath is least likely to experience it. Matthew Henry

Samson's Death

In Judges 16.28 this morning where Samson brings God's judgment on the Philistines when they bring him to a giant party to mock him. One commentator points out that this is the only time we ever see him praying before he uses his superhuman strength, so the gouging out of his eyes and the time in prison, enslaved, have—we think—brought him to repentance. Did he have his own motives for vengeance in addition to bringing God's judgment? It's certainly possible. He wouldn't be the first follower of God to act by both God's direction, and personal motives, nor the last.

The things that stand out to me here are:

1. God accepts his prayer and answers it, so whatever else we can conclude, the event was God-ordained to bring exceptional judgment on the Philistines.

2. In the process, it is clear from the incident that Dagon did not bring about Samson's capture and humiliation, God Almighty, the God of Israel brought it about for his own sovereign purposes.

3. This is the only time we see Samson praying before he uses his greath strength.

4. When God's judgment falls, it is often swift and immediate.

5. As Matthew Henry puts it: That strength which he had lost by sin, he recovers by prayer. That it was not from passion or personal revenge, but from holy zeal for the glory of God and Israel, appears from God’s accepting and answering the prayer.

6. The Lord acts in response to prayer by his people.